Crazy Dreams

I had this crazy dream last night that I was reffing a college football game. I was in the referee position, which is the one about ten yards behind the offensive line, and I was having problems staying awake. In fact, I fell asleep a number of times, and my other much older fellow officials were teasing me for it. I also did not have my contacts in so I couldn't see anything, and I was wearing cowboy boots, which I was sure was not helping my professionalism. I remember thinking, "Wow, I am a joke right now... but I am reffing a college game, and it's gonna look great on my resume!"
So, Mr. Freud, tell me what I'm supposed to get from this?

Number Crunching Time

409 divided by 582 is .7027... yadda yadda yadda.
Now add 129.4 points to 409. That makes 538.4.
Divide 538.4 by 582 and you get .9250... yadda yadda yadda.

So, what's up with the nunbers Einstein? Well, let's take a look at what they represent, shall we class?

409 is the total amount of points awarded to Todd Martin for his Media Writing class last semester. The total points possible for that class is 582. Thus, his numerical grade was, you guessed it, 70.3%.

Upon further inspection of Blackboard's recordings of said grades, Todd Martin found that eight assignments were not recorded, so the points remained at zero. Of these eight assignments, 35 of those points were basically attendance points, and would have been awarded full credit. The other one hundred points were the four unrecorded lab assignments. Assuming Todd Martin made his average points on these 25 point assignments each (the average being 23.6 based on the other 7 lab grads), that would total 94.4 points total. Add the 35 given points, and that represents the 129.4, which would then bring Todd Martin's total earned points up to 538.4. What then, would be the difference if the faculty had not overlooked these assignments?

The answer is 22.2% total of the numerical grade. Instead of a 70% (C-), Todd Martin would have scored 92.5% (A-), since the class is not curved.

That's the difference between applying to the Communications program this semester and applying in September. That's the difference between at least two more semesters of tuition.

And I know what you're thinking now, "Todd, are you sure you did these assignments?" The answer is unequivocally YES!! I didn't miss any of these classes at all last semester, and I turned in every lab assignment in lab! Maybe, just maybe, I didn't turn in the active voice worksheet after I did it, but that's only 15 points. If every 5.82 points is 1% of the grade, that would have dropped me from the assumed 92% to 89%... a B+.

Now you're thinking, "Well, it's your responsibility to check your grades and alert the professor to anything missing." And you would be right to think so. Despite him having announced several times that he was aware that there were missing grades on blackboard and he was taking care of it, I still dropped the ball when I neglected to check my grades every day before Christmas and complain to him every day that they still were'nt there.

Perhaps now you see why I want to do my angry dance to class every day!

Of course, I did make a B- in Comms 101 two semesters ago. They won't even look at any application that has grades less than a B in that class, so I have to retake it anyways. So I won't apply til September anyways. So what in TARNATIONS am I making a case for, right?? RiGHT?
BUTTERFRICKLE!

Welcome to Walden's Pond

How come my imagination is so much cooler than this world? I'm going to spend a lot more time there this semester.

2009 Recap and 2010 preview...

You know, there are things I really don't look forward to when I come home to Texas. For instance, I see all these familiar faces that I haven't seen in a while and they all have the same questions--about school, about graduation, about girlfriends and marriage, and work. When my responses are usually "No idea", "No progress", and "Plasma donation", some of them possibly think about what a loser I am. Ultimately, what a regular guy. I mean, it's been two and a half years since the mission, and I don't have much to show for it. All the people my age from the old stake are married off and heading in the direction that their lives seem to need to go, and here I am, the one who never changes.

Well, it's about New Years, so it's that sentimental time of looking back on the year and reflecting on the good and bad of 2009, and what truly did change.

First and foremost, there are changes that occur that you, the audience, will never be aware of. My family often speculates that there is some secret love, but I assure you, this is not the case. Yet. I am referring to the types of experiences that occur with weekly attendance to the temple, too sacred to impart. One thing I learned is that our understanding of each other here on this earth is very shallow. It seems ironic that these most defining events of my life, and most people's lives, are things that are between the individual and their god. These are the things that I don't tell the people who wonder, and because they happen, I don't feel so bad about being the same person in their eyes.

School happened too, and very little of it this year. From part time to barely full time schooling, I feel I'm still in that transitional period between majors, and between deciding what I want to do for the rest of my life. Again, when I say that my major is Print Journalism of all things, I'm sure there are some who doubt that I have a future at all (what with the dying industry and all). How little they know about my plans... and how little I plan about my future.

The summer was almost a carbon copy of 2008's summer, but with more annoying orientation videos. Yes, EFY didn't turn out exactly as I planned, but I still managed to coast through with wonderful experiences and a bit of cash to spare.

And everybody experiences their hard knocks. Fortunately for me, the hardest of knocks were bad test grades, parking fines, and the passing of my long time feline friend.

Now here I am, back in Texas awaiting the family football game on New Years and being so bored in the meantime that I write lengthy blogs about my narcissistic self, while the family watches cheesy ABC family movies in the next room. The good thing is that it's noon, and I know there is a refrigerator here packed with glorious morsels that I only dream of back at school.

Cheers for the New Years, everyone! I hope that you all had as stellar a year as I did. Let's eat some cake.

I Cast My Jinx Upon Thee!

You know, when I write about BYU or the Rockets, they end up doing bad. It's like I have this power to hex teams that I write about on my blog.
So, how bout them Lakers, huh?
They're pretty good, but don't get thinking that they're gonna repeat so easily. 16 home games and 4 road games... and I'm just waiting for Ron Artest to reveal himself as double-agent for the Rockets as he shanks Kobe in the locker room one day. We can always dream, right?
And what exactly is a "Laker"? I know they used to be in Minnesota, but what would their mascot be, a giant body of water? Oh no, a bunch of overgrown puddles just challenged us to a pickup game! I think the only thing more woosy would be a pair of short shorts.
Tell you who I wouldn't want to play in basketball: A Velociraptor. Or a Wizard. I would shoot the ball and the wizard would be like "Expelliarmus!" and the ball would fly into the other goal. How embaressing.

Sometimes I Complain

On this the last day of classes, I decided to drive my car since it was freezing outside. In order to do so, I had to get rid of the ice on my windshield, but my scraper fell apart so I threw warm water on it. This worked like a charm... until the warm water subsequently froze on my windshield. It was 6 degrees outside. And my house is drafty...
It's now been over a week and a half since Waylon was supposed to be replaced with the bridge. Apparently, the crowns haven't come in yet. Every day they say they will be delivered, but still they do not come! I dare not leave this place... I am dangerous; more dangerous than any wild animal stalking its prey!
It's from a musical.
Anyways, big news but not so big: earlier this week I turned in an application to do that which I must do, even if I don't particularly enjoy it: officiate intramural sports. On Monday, I went in for an interview. Many familiar faces... they told me I'd receive notification via e-mail on Wednesday on whether or not I'm in. It's Thursday, and no word.
As I was walking back from the interview, I ran into this girl that invited me to come play racquetball Wednesday morning. I was so excited that I forgot to mention to her that I had an important class at that time in which the final would be discussed. Mercifully, the class ended early, so I still had time to get my stuff and see if she was there. I rushed home and threw my racquetball stuff in the car, and then drove to campus. Now, driving to campus anywhere between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. is always a bad idea. Foiled by parking again! After 20 minutes of fruitless searching for a vacancy anywhere on campus, I threw in the towel.
After all this, I am stuck wondering why my life is kind of like a sitcom, where I am a minor comic relief character that never progresses because it would ruin a whole string of running jokes.
On a positive note, Tuesday night was a lot of fun. You guessed it, country dancing again, and not just the club night type. I mean, this was a big shindig like the dance labs of yesteryears where you get extra credit for bringing refreshments. I kind of forgot about the whole refreshments thing, but luckily I had an unopened box of Mini-Spooners that actually serves as great finger food, but is more likely to get overlooked in the presence of sugar cookies and salty chips. And indeed, it was overlooked--extra credit and I still have that unopened box of Mini-Spooners. The dancing was a lot of fun too, my Canadian cowboy instructor was the Dj, and I almost died during the line dances because I was feeling light-headed after selling plasma earlier in the day.
So now I am here home alone, as my roommates study fervently for finals. I am done with class and homework, and I have only two finals (one of which is a take-home essay type, my favorite!) and a benchmark on Tuesday. What then? Well, eventually I'll be back to say howdy to the good weather and good cookin'.
Maybe I could find a girl to bring home in, what, ten days? Snicker...

A Dangerous Past Time

I'm afraid I've been thinking...
I wear the same green fleece, pants, and tennis shoes to school every day. People must think I never change clothes.
Then, today I had to sneeze so I lifted my sleeve to sneeze into it and ended up punching myself in the nose instead. Haha!
At the end of the week, the high for Provo is 30, and the low is 8. That's 8, period. Combine this weather with the sparks that fly every time I touch my car door, and Utah is not a very likable place. Oh well, give me two more weeks and I will retire to a warmer and less static-y environment. For a time...